Running header: RACIAL PROFILING AMONG LAW ENFORCEMENT
Racial Profiling among law enforcement
D’ante Lambright
Mrs. Disher
November/3/2014
Running header: RACIAL PROFILING AMONG LAW ENFORCEMENT
Abstract
Racial profiling has been dated back since the civil war era. It is probably one of the biggest issues in
society. Racial profiling may occur anywhere in your work place, school, at the mall, and even airports.
Racial profiling has only begun in society being that we are going through a culture revolution in America
but I have written this paper to advocate against these crimes in order to put a stop so that our future
doesn’t have to suffer from this. Racial profiling impacts the behavior of those affected
Running header: RACIAL PROFILING AMONG LAW ENFORCEMENT
Introduction
I’ve come to advocate for the victims who have suffered from racial profiling, I come to help
those who can’t help them self from racial profiling among law enforcement. This is just a small fact
about racial profiling but the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that for the
year 2005, the most recent data available, police actions taken during a traffic stop were not uniform
across racial and ethnic categories. Black drivers 4.5% were twice as likely as White drivers 2.1% to be
arrested during a traffic stop, while Hispanic drivers (65%) were more likely than White 56.2% or Black
55.8% drivers to receive a ticket. In addition, Whites (9.7%) were more likely than Hispanics 5.9% to
receive a written warning, this act is so small but racial profiling is real in society more and more African
Americans and other minorities are being shot and killed due to simple crimes or due to racial profiling
that doesn’t even need to have a gun involved. In my paper I will explain the general issue and why I
believe its one of the biggest issues, then I will explain the focus problem within racial profiling, I will
also give you three solutions on how we could solve this problem, and lastly I will give my final
statements on this topic and hoping that I have educated you on this topic and that I will change the
outlook on how you see racial profiling.
General Issue
Running header: RACIAL PROFILING AMONG LAW ENFORCEMENT
Racial profiling is a controversial and illegal discriminatory practice in which individuals are
targeted for suspicion of crimes based on their ethnicity, race, or religion rather than on evidence-based
suspicious behavior. These labels are based on race or ethnicity and have no merit. Although the
practice is illegal in the United States, many groups concur that racial profiling is still evident today. My
general issue of my whole paper is racial profiling, within my paper I will explain the narrowed problem
and also explain possible solutions to solve this problem but not just in the United States but wherever
this problem lies. Police officers rely on descriptions of subjects to identify suspects, such as their race or
ethnicity, in combination with other factors. When officers use the color of a person’s skin without using
other identifying factors, they are guilty of racial profiling. This is major problem for African Americans in
some cases suspects would have multiple gun shots, also most victims were African American or other
minorities later to find out the suspect was unarmed. Nearly all the victims in the case of deaths in
custody and police shootings reviewed by Amnesty Internationals were from racial minorities- particular
African Americans, Latinos, and Asians.
Focus Problem
Police officers rely on descriptions of subjects to identify suspects, such as their race or
ethnicity, in combination with other factors. When officers use the color of a person’s skin without using
other identifying factors, they are guilty of racial profiling. Police officers are not the only ones guilty of
using these discriminatory practices. Airport security agents, airline pilots, security guards, business
owners, and even our peers use these techniques. An example includes an airport security agent singling
Running header: RACIAL PROFILING AMONG LAW ENFORCEMENT
out a person in line at the airport because of the color of his or her skin. This has become common
practice since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, especially toward Arabs and Muslims, even
though many airline companies dispute this claim. This is why racial profiling is such a huge problem
because we causing someone else pain just because they might look like a person who had taken place
in the 9-11 attacks. Despite the fact we have grown as a country racial profiling still exist in the criminal
justice area. This does not necessarily suggest that these outcomes represent conscious efforts to
discriminate, but they nonetheless contribute to excessive rates of imprisonment for some groups.
Racial profiling has increased within law enforcement but I have beyond reasonable doubts that
these solutions may help decrease the risk of racial profiling among law enforcement. My first solution
is a new set guideline because what we have now is not doing its job. This new guide line would set the
new standard that all police would follow to insure the safety of potential suspects, minorities that are
being targeted and police officers. Psychological testing would be my next solution, if each police officer
took a psychological test this could give us a standard to go off because the test may show how you
would react when a situation like that approaches. Background checks are really important because it
would be able to show what he/she life style was like how they was grown up, what they believe in, are
they racists or not, this is why background checks are so important, my last solution would is real world
test I believe if we did a real life scenarios that would increase the knowledge and better street smarts
Running header: RACIAL PROFILING AMONG LAW ENFORCEMENT
for the police officers to know what not to do and would know how to handle the situation the right
way.
Conclusion
This is a serious topic and I’m advocating to you to express my feelings towards racial profiling
and by giving you these solutions this might change your mind on racial profiling. My father was once a
victim of racial profiling. My father and I just finished moving to our new home and my dad had locked
himself out the house so he was checking the doors and the side door of our house to see if it was
unlocked in the midst of this a police officer drove past and saw my dad trying to get in.to the house my
dad then went into the backyard and that’s when the officer got out his car and approached my dad
saying sir please step away from the house assuming my dad was breaking into the house he then
handcuffed my dad later to relied that this was my dad’s house when I came home from my friend’s
house. Seeing this had opened my eyes and really hurt me that our society is like that, this is why I
advocate for victims who have suffered from this because I wouldn’t want someone else felt what I felt
Running header: RACIAL PROFILING AMONG LAW ENFORCEMENT
Citations
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Running header: RACIAL PROFILING AMONG LAW ENFORCEMENT
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